I feel the need, the need for TOP GUN MAVERICK

Oh I agree. At least here the dangerous mission is baked into the story instead of feeling like an add-on to give the film a climax.

I honestly kinda wanna go see it again. And I just might too, if my local theaters skimp on new releases next weekend.

The Schlocketeer wrote:

I honestly kinda wanna go see it again. And I just might too, if my local theaters skimp on new releases next weekend.

Same. I'll be all over the 4K release, but I want to see this at least one more time theatrically.

Having rewatched the first one before this, I was struck by how...thrown together it feels. All the scenes have a 'and then this', whereas the new film is striking more towards 'and therefore this'. Especially with regards to the ending mission of the original vs new one, the plot is far and away better constructed. Props to the original for crafting individual images and moments that have undoubtedly stood the test of time, of course; and obviously, the sequel owes a lot to those. Still, this is a a much better film all around; character, emotion, plot, everything (except maybe the music because DAMN)

Oh, I'm definitely watching this again. Man, the Paramount gods are so thankful; this has clear skies til Jurassic Park in two weeks and even then, is that really going to be a major threat?

I think this will hold up fine against JURASSIC WORLD: WE LITERALLY THROW EVERYTHING AT THE WALL

DOMINION is going to be big, but MAVERICK will have made all the money it needs to by then to be considered a success, especially worldwide.

I was a little confused over the opening scene in the film, which seemed to show Maverick the test pilot as being a tad reckless, even for a test pilot. The parameters of the test are changed so he has to get to mach 10, okay. Everything's riding on this, including all the engineers' jobs, because Admiral Ed Harris wants to can the whole thing, fine. Tom coaxes the thing up to mach 10, praying to Goose as it rattles and vibrates and generally overheats, yay. And then... I dunno, he gets this odd look in his eye, and decides to see how much faster it will go. The plane disintegrates and he gets yelled at, but weirdly: a) no one seems to note that he drove the plane over the test limits when he didn't have to, and b) this pointlessly reckless decision does not seem to reflect in anything else, in fact Maverick seems to be quite at ease with himself when he's not flying a plane.

I get that the connection seems to be with his decision to go back and help Rooster during the mission, but the two situations couldn't be more different. If they were trying to show that Maverick is still dangerous, but at least his craziness now is in helping others, it didn't seem to come across all that clearly.

It seemed to me that it illustrated that he'll still take things to the limit, and basically can't help himself but do that.

I don't mean this as a slight against the character, but Maverick in this movie is a more thoughtful high school jock who peaked early and keeps chasing that high. His skill set never went away, but here he is, answering to people who graduated Top Gun two years after he did.

I think the movie and the character are both basically cognizant of that.

Which is my argument for the opening scene with the test flight. He keeps leaning into those impulses while everyone else has moved on.  I knew the movie was putting in the work when Maverick glanced at the mach meter and I silently groaned "Oh no.  Don't do it" because I knew precisely what he was going to do even though he knew he shouldn't.

Of course, it turns out that those impulses are kinda essential to the succes of the final mission.

Well, there's been a lot of 'you're the best, Tom!' in his recent movies.

But, what's particularly galling is that the peaked in high school guy still gets Jennifer Connelly! harumph

I'm sure there's some digital wizardry at work there (plus perhaps some well done strategic cosmetic work) but goddamn, Connelly is fuckin' luminous.

Would hug.

Connelly needs no trickery! She's showstopping enough all on her own.

Mondguy wrote:

Basing the training specifically for the mission was a great writing choice.  By the time you're in the finale, you already know the goals and challenges, so there's no sudden info dump and you can just soak everything in.

Yeah, it's a heist movie, and yeah, it works a treat.